Ganbaranba

When I saw that Ganbaranba wasn’t just a ramen shop or a noodle restaurant, but a ‘noodle colosseum’, it was pretty much compulsory to eat there. Though I swore to try and gladiator my way through all of the ramen on the menu, I only managed to get there twice. On both occasions we shared some gyoza to start, and they were incredible – beautifully pan-fried with extra crispy bits hanging off each dumpling and a soft and tasty filling. Round one was the traditional tonkotsu ramen – I found the broth to be a bit oily, and the pork was quite tough, but the ramen had just the right amount of bite. Round two was all about the shoyu – the best ramen of my life was in Kyoto in 2009 and it was a shoyu ramen. It’s not as common to find soy-based broths in Australia, and so I always try them when I can. Whilst it wasn’t Kyoto-standard, this shoyu was really tasty, full of bamboo shoots and again perfectly bitey ramen. Ganbaranba’s staff were super friendly and made us feel welcome, so they get the thumbs up from me.